February
is typically a pretty down month for most people. You are past the holidays, the winter is
dragging on and it just isn’t warm enough yet to even think about going
outside. Well, I think that it gets even
more difficult when you have young kids who are tired of being inside. There is only so many times you can play in
the sunroom, basement or family room before you inevitably turn on the TV. This house is ready for some warmer weather
and the ability to get outside. I’m
looking forward to seeing both of them able to run around outside as last
summer Sarah was struggling to even walk!
As
the month has gone on, I continued to wear my boot on my right leg to help my
ankle heal the best it can. It seems
inevitable that I will need surgery at some point in the future, either sooner
or later, but it seems likely. My ankle
healed well enough to wean out of the boot and get ready for a ski trip I had
scheduled to Crested Butte in late February.
To check my ankle out, Deb and I took a vacation day and went to a ski
resort in Indiana (yeah, there are a few) and my ankle did fine. It was a great time to get away for a few
hours as we took the girls to daycare and enjoyed the slopes. We got home in time to get the girls home
with the babysitter so we could go out with some friends for dinner.
The month was fairly snowy and cold. The good news is the girls loved playing outside in the snow. We took several sled rides, played on the swingset and ran races in the snow. Luckily our neighbors have 2 boys the same ages as our girls and they are always up for a snow playdate. Allison and Henry especially loved going down the snow covered slide. Sarah and George really liked swinging on the swingset.
As
mentioned, I went with Freddy, Foulke, Lawton and Jeremy to Crested Butte in
late February. We were all very excited
to go on this trip and we left on a Wednesday evening on a direct flight to
Denver. Once we arrived in Denver, we
were half-way there as we then had a 4 hour drive which turned into 6 hours due
to a terrible winter storm which we drove through. We arrived at the condo at 4:30 in the
morning and we were up at 7:30 and ready for the slopes at 9AM. We skied between 18 and 21 miles each day and
it was amazing how you could be in such beautiful ski weather and have no lines
to face on just about any ski lift. We
enjoyed some really good meals and local beers.
Each evening, we struggled to stay awake as we were pretty exhausted from
how much skiing we were doing during the day.
We went on a whiskey tour on the way back to Denver and had some
afternoon beers before heading the airport.
The lines were so long we had time to make friends in line at the
curbside check-in and he was nice enough to break out some beers for us out of
his luggage!
Sarah’s Things of the Month
Sarah has started to take swim lessons with Debbie. Debbie was able to schedule the swim lessons
at the same time as Allison, so it isn’t much more of a commitment and Sarah
already seems to love swim lessons. I
haven’t made it yet, but it seems like each time Debbie comes back telling me
how fearless Sarah is in the water! Sarah is already great at using her “pullers”
and loves the slide. On the negative
side, it seems like Sarah can be somewhat of a bully at school with her teacher
telling us she is pushing kids when she isn’t happy. We have had to address this a few times at
home and are working on it.
Allison’s Things of the Month
Allison has had a few difficult times at school with
her listening ears and not paying attention to the teacher. She usually has good days but we have had to
remind her several times that she needs to listen to her teachers. But, she is nearly a 4 year-old and among a
large group, I’d imagine most kids aren’t listening!
A few more items from this
month:
- I went to a Superbowl party at the Dodson’s for a few hours and then came home to watch the end with Debbie, Randy and Anna.
- The girls had "crazy hair" day at Learning Time
- The girls have had several dental check ups, but this month marked the first one where they both didn’t completely melt-down during it.
- We started doing a family bible study with the Watkins, Foulkes, Anderson and Lakes. It is a 6 week program aimed at the family, by talking about marriage, kids and the bible. We have enjoyed it and have 3 more weeks remaining.
- Deb had breakfast with Julie Gebhart and enjoyed catching up with her.
- Deb and I went to the daycare for a Valentine’s Day cookie decorating party. The girls loved their cookies and couldn’t get enough sprinkles!
- I went over to Naab’s house to watch the IU vs. Purdue game with him and Gareth. Gareth decided to not play in the Chatard alumni league this year, so it was good to catch up with him.
- The Vandervaarts were visiting Indy while I was in Colorado so they decided to come over and visit Deb and the girls. Everyone seemed to play well and enjoyed the chance to catch up.
